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31 May, 8 tweets, 4 min read
The front-page shockers began in early April and just kept coming: A young mayor from the San Francisco Bay’s wine country had been accused of sexually abusing and assaulting women.

First, there were four accusers. Then four more.

latimes.com/california/sto…
The headlines were stunning, but they came not from Sonoma County’s leading media outlet, the Press Democrat, but from its big-city rival, the San Francisco Chronicle.

latimes.com/california/sto…
The allegations, which led the former mayor of Windsor Dominic Foppoli to resign, have rocked Pulitzer Prize-winning Press Democrat.

The top editor made the extraordinary admission that the paper had failed to pursue the story more than 2 years ago.

latimes.com/california/sto…
Reporter Alexandria Bordas left the Press Democrat in 2019 and eventually took her information — including two women’s allegations that they had been sexually assaulted — to the Chronicle.

The San Francisco paper soon teamed Bordas with Cynthia Dizikes.

latimes.com/california/sto…
.@CrossingBordas and @cdizikes published their first story.

Then came a raft of damning follow-ups, a deluge of calls for Foppoli’s resignation and, at the Press Democrat, soul searching and recriminations about the story that got away.

latimes.com/california/sto…
Hundreds of readers also complained, many speculating that Foppoli’s political and business connections, as the son of longtime winemakers, might have made him immune from scrutiny.

Said one reader on Facebook: “There is much work to do to regain trust.”
latimes.com/california/sto…
Critics both inside and outside the paper said they do not believe the Press Democrat backed away from the Foppoli story because of the politician’s connections.

“It was an egregious mistake,” said one journalist, “but not something more than that.”

latimes.com/california/sto…
Despite the humiliation of being beaten on a story in their own backyard, Bordas’ former colleagues privately cheered her for keeping the Foppoli story alive.

Read more from reporter @raineytime at latimes.com/california/sto…

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More from @latimes

Los Angeles Times Profile picture
31 May
La Gloria is in danger of closing — but the culprit isn’t the economic ravages of COVID-19, says the family who runs the iconic Boyle Heights tortilla factory.

It’s the Los Angeles Department of Public Works.

latimes.com/california/sto…
For 6 years, La Gloria has waged a bitter battle with the agency over the fate of its flour tortilla machines.

The city acquired the Quonset hut that houses them via eminent domain in 2015.

latimes.com/california/sto…
La Gloria received $2.2 million for the building & is also entitled to relocation fees.

They asked for $4.2 million, citing the complexity of dismantling and transporting the tortilla lines, plus the cost to accommodate the machines in the factory.

latimes.com/california/sto…
Read 8 tweets
Los Angeles Times Profile picture
31 May
Subscriber Exclusive:

Las Vegas nearly ground to a halt during the pandemic. Casinos and restaurants are set to return to full capacity, but many hospitality workers wonder whether they'll ever make up their losses.

@kurtisalee reports from Las Vegas:
latimes.com/world-nation/s…
They’ll be coming soon — at least that’s what Vegas hopes — the gamblers, tourists and all the rest.

The city’s betting on revival.

But will the people laid off during shutdowns be part of the recovery?

latimes.com/world-nation/s…
The Strip went silent early in the pandemic and has returned like a man slipping on his best suit piece by piece, inching back slowly with a return to full capacity set for June.

latimes.com/world-nation/s…
Read 7 tweets
Los Angeles Times Profile picture
31 May
As the story goes, a Native Hawaiian man came as a Gold Rush pioneer to Sierra County to strike it rich.

Jim Crow, as he’s called, is believed to have been an early pioneer in the region with William Downie, the founder of Downieville.

latimes.com/california/sto…
His name was given to a ravine, a stream and a street off Hwy. 49, 3 miles east of Downieville, Calif. That’s how Jim Crow Canyon, Jim Crow Creek & Jim Crow Road came to be.

Today, people who own property along the road say that Jim Crow has got to go.

latimes.com/california/sto…
The debate over Jim Crow Road is the latest example of political and cultural schisms that can raise temperatures in rural California regions, away from the spotlight of largely liberal cities such as San Francisco and Los Angeles.

latimes.com/california/sto…
Read 6 tweets
Los Angeles Times Profile picture
30 May
A Black-owned Oklahoma newspaper would not let the state forget the day white mobs murdered hundreds of African Americans in Tulsa.

Every Thursday for decades, the Oklahoma Eagle has forced the city to confront its violent past.

latimes.com/world-nation/s…
For 18 hours on May 31, 1921, white mobs raced through Greenwood — known as “Black Wall Street” for its thriving African American-owned businesses — tossing Molotov cocktails, torching churches and hospitals, leaving nearly 300 Black people dead.

latimes.com/world-nation/s…
Thousands were forced to flee. They took the Osage Prairie Trail to escape the white mob.

Some events planned in Tulsa this weekend will memorialize those who ran from one of the deadliest acts of racial violence in American history.

latimes.com/world-nation/s…
Read 7 tweets
Los Angeles Times Profile picture
30 May
Three people were killed along Compton Creek in the last year.

Their killer, authorities say, was a man who lived in a homeless encampment along the creek.

latimes.com/california/sto…
Patricia Loeza’s body was found in June 2020 near her collapsed tent. She was stabbed 8 times.

When Loeza’s family members explain her path into addiction and homelessness, they start at the beginning.

latimes.com/california/sto…
Kenneth Jones’s body was found Jan. 15 on a bank of the creek.

Jones drifted between living on the streets, in a church-run home & with family in high school and over the next few years. A relative said Jones was a father, creative and full of potential.

latimes.com/california/sto…
Read 7 tweets
Los Angeles Times Profile picture
29 May
Writer Natalie Rigg has noticed a new trend around L.A. lately.

Really, really expensive water bottles latimes.com/lifestyle/imag…
She noticed, for example, a notable French model, “forgoing her handbag for a sleek steel Alexander McQueen water bottle, complete with a bondage-inspired leather holdall and slim straps... “Think Angelina Jolie in a pandemic version of ‘Tomb Raider’” latimes.com/lifestyle/imag…
“One reason the designer water bottle has gained such traction in this part of town is because it integrates seamlessly with two favorite pastimes: eating out and hiking,” Rigg posits latimes.com/lifestyle/imag…
Read 8 tweets

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